Xbox’s popular racing game Forza Horizon 5 is heading to PlayStation.
In a surprise announcement, Playground Games announced that the most recent Forza Horizon game is coming to PS5 this spring. It will be the latest Xbox exclusive heading to the PlayStation console following Bethesda games like Starfield, Sea of Thieves, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
The PS5 version was developed by Panic Button in partnership with Turn 10 Studios and Playground Games and will feature the same content as the Xbox and PC version. Furthermore, Car Packs, and the Hot Wheels and Rally Adventure expansions will also be included.
The move comes amid growing interest from Xbox in releasing its games on non-Xbox platforms including PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, with Xbox boss Phil Spencer confirming its intention to support the Switch 2.
In the most recent investor call, Microsoft revealed that while Indiana Jones and the Great Circle reached 4 million players, and Game Pass on PC grew 30% to increase services revenue by 2%, overall gaming revenue fell with console sales dropping nearly 30%. This may incentivize Xbox to prioritize Game Pass and push for more games on other hardware.
Forza Horizon 5 is the continuation of the open world racing series. A little more arcade than its racing sim sibling, Forza Mortorsport, Forza Horizon 5 allows drivers to race and explore beautiful Mexico. You can read our full review here.
The team came prepared, revealing names and release windows for a few of the more substantial updates it has planned to launch throughout 2025. Several DLC pack collections are on the way for those who plan to stick with the seventh entry in the long-running strategy series in the months ahead, with things like additional Leaders, Civilizations, and Natural Wonders set to be included. Alongside the paid drops arriving in the spring and summer, players can expect free Civilization 7 content to launch via patches, events, and more.
Headlining the paid DLC is a two-part release called the Crossroads of the World Collection. Part one launches in early March and comes with Leader Ada Lovelace, four Natural Wonders, and the Carthage and Great Britain Civs, while part two is set to arrive in late March with Leader Simon Bollvar and Civs Bulgaria and Nepal. Free content is also expected to release in early and late March, too, with the month split up between the new Natural Wonder Battle event and Bermuda Triangle Natural Wonder in the first half and the Marvelous Mountains event and Mount Everest Natural Wonder in the second half.
March is set up to kick off Civilization 7 post-launch support with a strong start, but there’s more set arrive later in the year. Firaxis says the Right Rule Collection will launch sometime this summer, bringing two new leaders, four new Civs, and four New World Wonders. The April through September window will also see the release of more free content and updates. It’s a promising roadmap (below) that has the 2K Games strategy-focused developer promising to deliver more post-launch support from October 2025 “and beyond.” Specific release dates for everything revealed today have yet to be announced.
Firaxis revealed even more plans in a recently published developer diary blog post, which includes the promise to add teams to multiplayer games, increased multiplayer lobby sizes, additional map variety, and even modding tools. The team explains that it will release features like these “as soon as we can.”
“The first set of updates we’ll be providing are those that directly target the game as it currently stands,” the dev diary explains. “There will be some bugs to fix, plenty of balance changes to make, and we know there are spots in the gameplay and user interface that can be enhanced with any number of quality-of-life improvements. You’ll see regular updates from us in all of these areas.”
In addition to a breakdown of how Firaxis will tackle Civilization 7 post-launch content, the livestream gave fans a closer look at how all of its systems work together in multiplayer. The hour-and-a-half-long gameplay presentation saw creative director Ed Beach take on senior designer Tim Flemming live to show off how two different strategies can be used to achieve victory regardless of whether you’re playing alone or against others. Today’s stream, Firaxis’ last before launch, also included Q&A sections where the team answered some of the community’s questions.
Sid Meier’s Civilization 7 launches for PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S February 11. If you’re too excited for Firaxis’ latest domination strategy to wait, you can pick up the Deluxe Edition for $99.99 to take part in an early access period that begins February 6. For more, you can check out our preview, where we took a look at how things are shaping up so far.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Those who enjoy a little slice of weirdness in their gaming might want to keep an eye on this one. Publisher Crunching Koalas and developer Dexai Arts have today released the first-person bouncer simulator Techno Banter on the Switch eShop and it looks… strange.
This is a game all about deciding which party guests get into a club and which are told to take a hike. It’s a similar concept to what we’ve seen in the likes of Papers, Please and Lil’ Guardsman, but Techno Banter mixes things up with, you guessed it, banter. You’ll have to use your wit to hit any unruly potential guests with clever comebacks, keeping the party vibing and keeping the line in check.
Sniper Elite Invites You to Join the Resistance, with Tips to Get Started
Beck Shaw, Lead Level Designer, Rebellion
With Sniper Elite: Resistance available from today on Xbox Game Pass, Xbox and Windows PC, we thought it would be a great time to give you some hints and tips for when you join the Resistance.
Find Your Playstyle
One of the key tenants of the Sniper Elite franchise is the freedom we give to you, the player. We want you to be able to approach every mission, objective and scenario in a way that suits how you want to play the game. You may be the kind of player who is extremely stealthy, taking their time to plan out each and every attack. Using binoculars to mark every enemy you see, planning your assault and taking out the enemies you need to from distance and cover.
Conversely you may be more “shock and awe” in your approach as you blow up a nearby vehicle and let the bullets fly as you steam in. The choice is completely up to you.
Adapt to Achieve Your Objective
The key here is being able to adapt on the fly, no matter your approach. Make sure you have a balanced loadout and are prepared for the scenario you are about to face. Even if you are a ‘run and gun’ style player, it never hurts to plan – even just a little.
Use the tools at your disposal, including your binoculars and focus, mark your enemies by hovering over them and then choose your approach before executing. But, be prepared for things to go wrong. Know where the alarms are and have an exit strategy, even if that’s just to let the bullets fly from an SMG as you run for cover.
Take Time to Understand Your Hunting Ground
The main Campaign in Sniper Elite: Resistance encompasses eight missions – all playable in single player and with a friend via online co-op. Each mission in is set in its own large, sprawling map in different locations behind enemy lines in France. While your primary objective will be clearly marked, there is so much more for you to discover.
Taking the time to explore the map, search enemy soldiers, and keeping an eagle eye for opportunities and hidden secrets will bring its rewards. You can discover additional objectives, unlock new insertion points, gain additional back story and mission information as well as discovering easter eggs.
Propaganda Missions
Each mission also has a Resistance poster hidden within the map. Once you find it you will unlock a separate Propaganda Mission. Here you play as a member of the Resistance in a variety of challenges, all against the clock. These smaller, repeatable levels will test your stealth, combat or sniping.
Each of the challenges has its own set of rules, weapons and scoring to vary the experience. Keep on playing to get the highest score possible and unlock medals and new weapons. We think you are really going to enjoy them.
Choose Your Weapon
As you would expect from a Sniper Elite game you have an arsenal of authentic World War 2 weaponry at your disposal, including some old favourites and new entries to the series. These weapons are combined with our best-in-class ballistics and the series defining X-Ray Kill Cam which lets you reveal in the destruction caused by your sniping prowess.
Weapon unlocks can be earned by finding the workbenches that are hidden within each of the Campaign maps. These workbenches will not only give you access to new weaponry, but they also unlock a number of customisation options. They allow you to alter your loadout, which can be incredibly helpful mid-mission. You may find that you need to increase the zoom capability of your scope or add a silencer to your side arm, all options are open.
Take the Fight Online
Again, this is where exploring and gathering as much intel as possible is vital to success.
Knowing the maps and the various vantage points and hiding places can also be hugely advantageous, especially when Invasion mode is enabled. This optional game mode allows players to ‘invade’ another person’s campaign mission as an enemy sniper tasked with eliminating the lead player.
No matter which side you are on, there are additional tools you can utilise to gain information on your opponent’s location. As the invader you can instruct the AI soldier’s to be extra vigilant and report back if they spot the host player to reveal their position. As the host player you can use the telephones dotted around the map to gain intel on the invader. However, be careful when you use them as overuse will in-turn give away your position.
On top of this, we have a suite of adversarial online multiplayer options for up to 16 players, including a favourite for the snipers amongst us, No Cross. You can also join up to three other players to take on waves of enemies in Survival Mode.
There’s certainly a lot for you to get stuck into so grab your rifle and join the Resistance! We really hope you enjoy the game. Sniper Elite: Resistance is available today on Game Pass, Xbox and Windows PC.
Pre-order the Sniper Elite: Resistance standard edition now and receive:
• Target Führer – Lights, Camera, Achtung campaign mission
• 1x weapon skin
• Karabiner 98 Rifle
NEW OPERATIVE, NEW THREAT, NEW EPIC CAMPAIGN
Offering unparalleled sniping mechanics, stealth and tactical third-person combat, Sniper Elite: Resistance turns the attention of the award-winning series towards a hidden war, far from the front lines, deep within the heart of occupied France.
In a gripping new story that runs parallel with Sniper Elite 5, Harry Hawker, agent of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), takes the lead for the first time as he discovers an insidious new Wunderwaffe – something so powerful, it guarantees the Nazis will win the war.
Working with the French Resistance, this deadly addition to the Reich’s arsenal must be eliminated.
Multiple Kill List targets, and different infiltration and extraction points give you an unequalled choice with how to accomplish objectives and create your own playstyle.
The full campaign can also be experienced in co-op. Fight against the Nazi war machine with an ally to share weapons, items and tactical know-how, as well as help each other get back in the fight when you go down during firefights.
VISCERAL X-RAY KILL CAM AND ADVANCED GUNPLAY PHYSICS
The trademark X-ray kill cam returns, showing the true destructive power of every one of your signature shots. Bones deflect bullets to unpredictably rip new paths through enemy bodies and SMGs and pistols also trigger kill cams, showing multiple bullet shots in dramatic slow motion.
To land that shot you will need to think like a true sniper. Factor in rifle stock and barrel options along with gravity, wind and heart rate while you zero your sights on the target.
AUTHENTIC WORLD WAR II WEAPONS AND CUSTOMISATION
The arsenal at your disposal will feature returning franchise favourites as well as a host of new authentic WWII weapons. Picking your loadout will be key to striking down the Reich’s nefarious plans!
Customise your weapon to suit your operating style. Find workbenches scattered around the campaign to customise and upgrade your rifles, secondaries and pistols with new scopes, stocks, barrels, magazines and more. Also remember to pick the right ammo for the right job, whether you need armour-piercing shells or a non-lethal takedown.
PROPAGANDA MISSIONS – BE THE RESISTANCE
Locate unique Propaganda posters across the main campaign and step into the shoes of a French Resistance fighter in all new Propaganda missions. During these scenarios, sneak, snipe and take down enemies to complete time-sensitive objectives and help end the Nazi occupation.
AXIS INVASION MODE
The fan-favourite Axis Invasion mode is back! invade another player’s Campaign as an Axis sniper and engage in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Whether you stalk your prey, lay an ambush, or run in guns blazing, the threat of invasion provides a new dimension to the campaign’s challenge.
TENSE ONLINE MULTIPLAYER
When you’ve mastered your rifle, customise your character and loadout as you take the fight online in competitive 16-player battles to earn XP, medals and ribbons.
If competition isn’t your style, you can also team up with up to 3 other players against waves of enemies in Survival mode.
Mandragora: Whispers Of The Witch Tree is a 2.5D Soulsvania from Primal Game Studio, in which you electrify, bisect or incinerate handsome, ravening night creatures in a world of heaped skulls and burning spires. Yes, I’m well aware that “2.5D” and “Soulsvania” are nonsense words, woven by pestilent market forces. Samuel Johnson is turning in his grave, I expect. He has risen from his grave and equipped himself with an ironbound dictionary and is even now making his way through the layers of the English language, hellbent on slaughtering every ‘vania yet coined.
Atomfall is set to release for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC in March. The deluxe edition will be available on March 24, while the standard edition releases March 27. Billed as a survival-action game, Atomfall is set in a quarantine zone in Northern England five years after a nuclear disaster. The game is available to preorder now in a couple of editions (see it at Amazon). Read on for the details about what comes in each edition, how much it costs, what preorder bonuses are available, and more.
The digital-only deluxe edition of Atomfall comes with the game itself, plus the following extras:
3 days early access (March 24)
“Story Expansion Pack” (coming later)
“Basic Supply Bundle” Pack
“Enhanced Supply Bundle” Pack
Atomfall Will Be on Game Pass
Xbox and PC owners can play Atomfall on PC on March 27, as long as they’re subscribed to Game Pass. Click above for the current best deal on a three-month membership, our check out our guide to the best ongoing Game Pass deals.
Atomfall Preorder Bonus
Preorder Atomfall from any retailer, and you’ll receive the following digital items for free:
In the five years since the Windscale nuclear disaster in Northern England, the place hasn’t become any more inhabitable – at least for the types of people you’d want to spend time with. Living in the quarantine zone are cultists, rogue government agencies, and all sorts of strange people. Your job is to survive by scavenging resources, bartering with others, and crafting items, as well as fighting and talking with the locals.
Don’t get too comfortable. As an RPG that puts you in the synthetic boots of an escaped robo-person, Citizen Sleeper 2 often has you on the run. It’s a crunchy, dicey machine of vibrant world-building that sometimes forgets itself in wandering prose. A compelling universe to sail through, with more habitats and hovels than its predecessor, more stations and stellar gateways. It can’t – for me – escape the dense gravity of the first game’s compact storytelling and novel character building, no matter how often it funnels you from one space caper to the next. But it has a good time trying.
It’s been confirmed that Summer Game Fest will return this year with a 2-hour showcase taking place on 6th June at the YouTube Theatre in Los Angeles.
Following this, a ‘Play Days’ hands-on event will take place from 7th-9th June in which media and influencers can experience new and upcoming games from over 40 attending publishers.
Typically, if I’m holding my breath while playing a game, it’s because I’m focused on the rhythm of say, an intense combat sequence or platforming section. The tension stems from the precise, real-time input needed to triumph in those situations, a perfectly-aligned leap or parry. Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, an RPG in which the main mechanic is placing dice into a slot at your leisure, does not require the lightning fast touch of a button, and that in itself is a testament to how exhilarating the game can be.
Citizen Sleeper 2 is the sequel to 2022’s Citizen Sleeper, and a compelling evolution to the first instalment that introduces new characters, stories and mechanics. You don’t necessarily need to have played the first game, but it does help in understanding the nuance and complexities of the unforgiving, dystopian world that Citizen Sleeper is set in. While the first game often felt like an isolated journey where helping yourself was often a zero-sum game, Citizen Sleeper 2 introduces a crew system, alongside some other clever new features, allowing your Sleeper to become the quirky, unappointed protagonist of your very own episodic sci-fi adventure.
Mechanically, the sequel feels fresh but familiar. Like the first game, Citizen Sleeper 2 is driven by ‘Cycles’, and at the start of each, you’ll roll a set of six-sided dice that will determine your output during any given Cycle. These dice will then slot into numerous activities, and the higher the roll, the higher the chance of success. Where Citizen Sleeper 2 builds on this is in a brand-new ‘Glitch’ system, a quirk that can debuff one or multiple of your dice rolls substantially, and the ‘Push’ system, which allows you to decrease the risk of using a specific dice to accrue Stress, another new feature.
Stress is an exchange, letting you exchange short term success for further complications later on like ‘breaking’ a die, rendering it useless for a Cycle. This system forces you to gamble, to analyse whether success in the moment is worth whatever damage you’ll do to yourself in the long run. This is where those tense, exhilarating moments come into play, Citizen Sleeper 2 is at its best when a critical success or punishing failure hinges on an unpredictable dice roll.
It’s a much more engaging system, turning the act of simply rolling dice into a wider risk/reward system that enables you to essentially push through a difficult situation and pay for it later. Citizen Sleeper 2 is effectively a game about being alive in a body that doesn’t quite work as you’d like it to, and its mechanics are masterfully built to force you to wrestle with that at all times, yet it never feels a burden to play.
Another new addition that impacts how you play is the class system, which introduces three distinct Sleeper archetypes with their own strengths and weaknesses. Each class starts with strength in one skill, with the ability to unlock points and build out other skills as you play. However, each of these has one skill completely blocked off, you’ll not be able to build on it and will always be at a disadvantage on activities that require it. For example, I went with the Machinist role, a pragmatic archetype that excels with the ‘Engineer’ skill and falls short with the ‘Engage’ skill. In short, great at fixing things, not so great at socialising. It’s a balanced system, but one that drives a natural instinct to play a role, which will also impact how you build your party, another excellent addition to Citizen Sleeper 2.
As you progress, you’ll meet new characters that can be recruited as part of your crew, and each of these new additions comes with their own skills. This changes the dynamic of Citizen Sleeper 2 dramatically – you’re no longer only dependent on your own dice rolls, your crew members can contribute additional die in certain moments.
However, these characters are more than just tactical additions to your tabletop arsenal. Citizen Sleeper 2‘s colorful cast is compelling to follow, because they’re not merely compelled to follow you. They’re individual personalities, each with their own drives and dreams. Sometimes, crew members will be indisposed on errands of their own making, and sometimes their actions will put you in interesting positions, and sometimes those situations may conflict with how you have chosen to roleplay your Sleeper. These characters are not written to be necessarily “good” or “bad” personalities, but everyone you meet has been molded by the dystopian landscape they all share in some way. There’s moral ambiguity in characters that have been shaped by loneliness, conflict and desperation, and there’s a muted cordiality in everyone just trying to survive.
One thing to really heed is that there is no right or wrong way to play Citizen Sleeper 2. Progression is not confined by the binaries of success and failure here, there is no “game over” if you find yourself stumbling through a run of bad luck and poor dice rolls. The decisions that you or your crew decide or deign are the ones that truly matter, and your priorities may change as you uncover new threads to pull on.
The main story of Citizen Sleeper 2 is propelled forward by Major Drives, main missions that’ll advance the plot, but you’ll also pick up Minor Drives, side quests that are optional but will uncover integral additions such as new crew members and valuable items, some of which will pertain to the personal goals of your crew members. However, the new Contract system is where Citizen Sleeper 2 really shines in its homage to the episodic television format the game draws influence from. Contracts are little missions that your crew can embark on with their own engaging narratives and rewards, and they’re also where camaraderie with your crew is key to survival. Opportunities are often shrouded behind inconspicuous interactions that require good use of every skill, and not just your own.
Contracts are accessed via a new map layout, which allows your crew to travel freely between several locations. Citizen Sleeper 2 is far less linear, some Minor Drives will take you to new locations, or you can just choose to spend a few Cycles exploring a place with no specific goal. While its predecessor kept you isolated and tied to one place, Citizen Sleeper 2 extends an open invitation to explore a sprawling galaxy, as long as you have the supplies to get where you’re going.
There is, however, a constant clock running in the background as you partake in all of this wild-eyed wandering. The next narrative beat will often be forced upon you after a certain number of Cycles, and the way to keep failure at bay is to always be moving around. Again, this isn’t a pending failure, but a persistent reminder that there are consequences to your actions in this unrelenting universe.
Citizen Sleeper 2 constantly dances on the line between a calm, controlled stroll and a high-octane sprint. While you may be engaging in some non-important churn, taking your time with its many engaging dialogue sequences, the everpresent thrum of danger is always creeping up to you, making sure you can never truly relax wherever you are. It’s a masterful feat of thoughtful worldbuilding, where your success is often either clutched through chaos or entirely incalculable, which is also a salient question that Citizen Sleeper‘s world poses about existence: What if everything just went wrong anyway, and that was okay?
Team Ninja will release a Ninja Gaiden 2 Black update in mid February to make “balance adjustments” and add “additional features.”
The update was announced on X/Twitter but little was said about what it includes specifically. Players have already replied to the post with features they’d like to see, including options to tweak camera movement as well as a more traditional new game plus option, but Team Ninja has only said it will address “feedback” received so far. No release date was announced.
“Based on the feedback received, we are preparing a patch aimed for release in mid February with some balance adjustments and additional features,” the studio said.
Ver. 1.0.6.0 Patch Released A patch for the Microsoft Store ver. to fix the issue where super-resolution couldn’t be selected has been released.
Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, which shadow dropped for players on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S last week, also received a smaller update in the form of patch version 1.0.6.0 today. As detailed on its website, it comes with two specific changes: a fix for an issue that removed DLSS and XeSS resolution options for copies bought through the Microsoft Store, and a fix for a “rare” problem that halted progress for players after defeating certain bosses.
The game was revealed alongside word that Team Ninja and PlatinumGames are both hard at work on Ninja Gaiden 4, which is set to launch in fall 2025. The remake of the second Ninja Gaiden game, meanwhile, is here now, and it’s already made quite an impression in the gaming space. We’ve enjoyed it, too, giving it an 8/10 in our review, where we called it a “definite and gorgeous improvement” over the Sigma 2 re-release and “an excellent action game all around.”
